New UC 'gateway condition' for some disabled claimants - date announced

If you've attended one of our training courses on Universal Credit you'll be aware of the huge drop in income some claimants can experience if they make a new claim for UC.

Many claimants lose out for many different reasons, but the biggest loss is for some disabled claimants who were entitled to have the Severe Disability Premium included in their assessment of IB-JSA, IR-ESA, IS, HB.

This is because there is no equivalent in Universal Credit, meaning for some claimants, a loss of up to £69 a week income!

From 16th January 2019 a new 'Gateway Condition' will be introduced into the UC rules......meaning that anyone who has the Severe Disability Premium included in their Income Related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support or Housing Benefit will not be able to make a claim for Universal Credit.

Instead, they will be able to remain on the legacy benefit system – and will therefore retain their Severe Disability Premium.

Eventually they will need to move onto UC ie they will be ‘manage-migrated’ onto UC, but they will then receive ‘transitional protection’, so that they do not see an immediate loss of income at the point of moving onto UC.